The only saving grace was that they hadn’t seen any Katazians. Not yet anyway, knock on wood. She wasn’t holding her breath that they would make a complete get away without running into at least one, but hopefully it stayed downward of a handful. From what Medif told her when they left Lady’s Fortune, they weren’t a species she was particularly interested in meeting. She liked her limbs intact and not chewed on.
She crept forward as Oigr took position at the right side of the door with Nazzek at the left. They had been elected to take the guard positions due to the larger size and natural armor that the Forad didn’t possess. Medif, however was fast and had keen eyesight, which put him at point. Nikki crept along behind Medif in her protected position surrounded by the guys.
The door moaned loudly as it opened. They all froze, listening for anyone heading towards them that the noise may have alerted. When the jungle remained quiet except for the hum of insects, Medif slowly disappeared inside the building while Oigr and Nazzek remained on guard outside. Nikki crept in, feeling the oppressive weight of the heat and darkness on her. Not even a single fucking light for the women. And by the gods it stank to high heaven, she wrinkled her nose in disgust.
A clatter off to the side drew Medif up short and he aimed his hand-held light orb--she was glad he thought to bring it--and weapon in that direction. A dirty woman crouched low, picking up a bowl of spilled grains. She stilled, caught in the light, fear racing across her face until she spied Nikki. She slowly stood, “Have you come to save us?” she croaked in a voice hoarse from either disuse or overuse.
Nikki’s heart hurt as woman after woman crept forward, and a soft excited whisper ran through the crowd. Medif nodded at her and moved to her side to give her the opportunity to talk to the women clustering around them.
“Hi, I am Nikki,” she winced at how inane that sounded but pushed on. “My friends and I discovered that you are here on Nikat and wanted to check in on you. Is everyone ok?”
“Can we leave?” another cried out. “I wanted a mate, someone to love me. I didn’t want this.”
“Me neither, I want to leave,” said another. A multitude of voices agreed. Everyone wanted to leave. They wanted the mates they were promised.
“Is this everyone?” she asked.
The one at the fore of the group nodded her head. “They have been waiting. We arrived a few weeks ago, but they said they were waiting for the great rite of the bringer of rains or some such nonsense. I think it was a fertility ritual. They were planning on distributing us out then from what I understand. Since it wasn’t time yet, they just locked us in here. Sometimes someone comes in to throw us a bit of dry food, or change the waste bucket, but we rarely see anyone other than that.” Her words were followed by another flurry of agreement from other women who clearly heard similarly.
“Well that is good to know then,” Nikki sighed with relief, glad that there was no one missing or traumatized worse than being half starved to death in a literal shit-hole. “My friends are going to help me get you out of here. It is a bit of a hike to the starship, but not too far. We just need to move quickly and quietly so we don’t draw any attention.”
The women moved quietly, occasionally whispering to those beside them, as they gathered together and headed silently towards the entrance. So far, so good, Nikki held in her sigh of relief. There was a brief lull in the forward movement as the women at the front got a gander at the Vrooduk and Indivi at the door, but the guys must have reassured them quickly since the crowd moved rapidly forward again. Nikki choked back her impatience. She had, after all agreed to bring up the rear with Medif.
She glanced over at her rescue-buddy and noticed that he looked pretty tense, his ears swiveling and cocking towards every sound. He looked positively wired to be honest. Nikki opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when a very slight movement out of the corner of her attracted her attention.
Her heart thumped rapidly in her ears as she focused on the figure crouched low in the fronds of the jungle. Yellow eyes glowed through the vegetation. Eyes of a predator, she told herself. Strange, especially given that the male looked more humanoid than any other alien she had seen outside of the Calysii. The strong panes of his face and large thickly muscled body would have been a girls wet dream regardless of its eggplant purple color. A thick shock of black hair ran down his back to a pair of tapered tails swishing lightly behind him. But what really caught her attention and made her heart and every internal organ scream like a little girl was the monstrously huge fangs he bared as he snarled, moving in for the kill.
Holy fuck, holy fuck, she chanted to herself before yelling, “Medif get your fucking tail moving. Ladies lets move it, haul ass girls, we have a motherfuckin’ Katazian on our ass!” The women jumped up like a herd of gazelles evading a predator, running full throttle, crashing through the bushes to catch up with the rest ahead. Like true pack animals, several more Katazians popped up from the bushes and her heart threatened to burst out from her chest. “Uh more, a lot lot more!” she screamed as she kicked it into high gear, panting and wishing to hell she had bothered to loose those pesky fifty pounds that had been hanging off her frame.
The males leaped forward and the jungle filled with growls and snarls as they began the chase. Nikki turned as she ran to fire haphazardly at the males. She fist-pumped when she managed to get one right between the eyes--more or less--taking him down like a sack of rocks. Several others stumbled and fell as she maimed them with the laser from her little gun--and this was considered a training weapon for juveniles? BBGuns had nothing on these motherfuckers.
Medif slid out behind her, taking out two pursuers effortlessly with his blasters. Showoff. She had no doubt he had been busy kicking ass and taking names. Her muscles cramped from the exertion as she recognized the beach line just up ahead. Come on body!
She plowed through a vine of those delicious naughty little fruits--baskets of which they had stored in their personal quarters after the love-fest the day before-- desperately trying to evade the reaching grip of one Katazian when Nazzek leaped over a wide frond, crashing the other male brutally into the ground. Her mate’s diamond-hard claws made swift efficient work of the Katazian, shredding the flesh of his neck so deep that he nearly decapitated him.
Medif pulled up to his side just as Nazzek rocked up onto his feet and ran towards her. Without breaking stride, he yanked her up into his arms and made a beeline to the Lady’s Fortune, Medif trailing only by meters, covering their rear.
As they broke out onto the beach, Nikki was gratified to see that Oigr had made short work of getting the women to climb swiftly into the cargo hold. Of course, having your passengers terrified and eager to get away certainly helped. Oigr secured the cargo hold just as they arrived at the ship.
Nikki made the colossal mistake of looking over Nazzek’s shoulder as he hauled balls into the ship, and her heart tried to crawl out her throat as she saw the dozens of angry Katazians in hot pursuit. “Oh my gods it is like I am on a live set of a crappy stereotypical Indiana Jones movie,” she moaned. The door shook with the impact from the blaster fire just as it closed.
She managed to force her lungs to resume normal breathing as Nazzek set her in a chair in the command center. After strapping her securely in, he strapped himself into his own seat. “Lets get out of here Medif,” he shouted.
Medif started up the engines and slammed his palm down on the comm system “Females, we are going on a bumpy ride. Grab a hold of something, or each other. I would recommend being seated on the floor at least.”
Nikki easily made out the shouts of surprise from the back as the starship rocketed up off the planet surface. She wearily flipped-off the planet getting smaller in the viewing screen.
She turned to to face Nazzek. “Now, just in case there is any confusion, my love, that was not romantic.”
Her mate just gave her a wide grin as the moved rapidly away, heading towards Indesh. Or rather, they would have been…
Chapt
er 8
Nazzek was just starting to feel like he could take a moment and recover from escaping a horde of angry Katazians, on route to relax at home on Indesh, when a certain familiar Lorgor starship dropped out of the Durrga dust cloud right in front of them. For a long moment he just stared aghast at the ship. The damn Lorgors had waited them out. He groaned but had to grudgingly respect their dedication, even if it put a kink in his get away.
“Medif, comm the Lorgor vessel,” he sighed, a bemused smile twitching at the corner of his lips.
Instantly, the scowling face of the Lorgor captain filled the viewing screen. Nazzek flashed his most charming smile. “Captain Otorol, fancy seeing you again already.”
“Captain Nazzek,” Otorol growled, “I insist you cease this foolishness at once and return the stolen mate of prince Gaix immediately. My patience is at an end with this whole matter.”
Nazzek leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at the weary male in front of him. This was definitely a male who was not enjoying his job. “Why are you chasing after a female who doesn’t want to be found or go back to Gaix.”
The male waved a weary three-fingered hand. “He paid the asking price from The Mate Index Distribution Program of Earth and has official documentation that she legally his mate.”
“Come now, we both know that mating isn’t about paperwork. Paperwork is for livestock and slaves. It has nothing to do with mates,” Nazzek smiled at him chillingly. “Are you suggesting that my mate is either of these things?”
Otorol frowned, “What do you mean by your mate?”
Nazzek shrugged with a feigned indifference, “I mean what I say, she is mine. Unlike your prince Gaix, I mated her the only way you can really mate a female. We are bound now.”
The Lorgor captain contemplated him silently. “If what you say is true, I am not sure how to resolve this situation. I would not feel comfortable trying to take a female from her bound mate.”
“Especially since your dear prince has another nineteen to available himself of I should imagine,” Nazzek cut in.
“Indeed.” He frowned heavily and then let out a long tired sigh. “Very well. I cannot, in good conscience, proceed any further with this pursuit. I suppose I will merely tell the prince that I was unable to locate the missing female. What is your current route?”
“Returning to Indesh with some necessary cargo that will make my people very happy.”
Otorol’s brow furrowed in confusion, and then cleared as he shrugged. “May the gods bless your return journey home then Captain Nazzek.”
The comm blipped out as Nikki turned to look Nazzek right in the eye, her lips pressed together in the manner that he knew meant she was holding back her laughter. “A very necessary cargo huh?”
“Did I lie? I was not about to outright tell another male that I was carrying three hundred human females to my home world. Now that would have been crazy.”
Nikki snickered as she curled up on his lap and into his embrace. As he spent a great many minutes pleasurably sipping at her lips, and caressing the cavern of her mouth and tongue with his own, Nazzek had the thought that he could very well do this forever.
“Medif, please let the High Council of Indesh know that we are on our way with a very special surprise for them.”
***
Nikki stood in front of the lowering cargo hold’s doors enjoying the smell of flowers on the breeze. Unlike the muggy heat of Nikat, Irvisha, the Indesh capital felt like being on a Mediterranean coast--if the trees had burgundy foliage, or the planet had a lavender sky with a sea of deep purple. She sucked in a deep breath and enjoyed the comfortable warmth of the sun beating down on her.
The last few hours to Indesh, after departing from the company of the Lorgor vessel, were mercifully uneventful. There was one small hiccup to their day when Nazzek decided to accompany her into the cargo hold to let the other women know what the plan was--and to see if anyone would object. Not only did none of the object, but she ended up having to fend off more than one female with stars in her eyes.
Apparently the front end had been attacked by the Katazians too, and her sweet Nazzek had jumped into action protecting the women from harm. Naturally, those nearest to him, and getting an eyeful of his attractive features, were instantly smitten with their hero. Thankfully, they didn’t drive her to threatening bodily harm. Actually she could thank Nazzek for that.
Ever the sweet talker, he explained to the ladies that he was very flattered by their interest, but he was already mated. The sighs of disappointment had been audible until he mentioned that they would be going to his home world where they could find mates. Apparently this was quite satisfactory for all the women. Nikki really couldn’t blame them. A sexy, beautiful gemstone green male who would treat them like queens.--it was kind of hard to pass up.
So there they were, preparing to unload the women onto the arrival platform of the capital city, with the entire High Council and a great many curious males stretching out as far as her eye could see.
Nazzek had already taken the liberty of explaining to the Council the condition of the women and the state in which he found them. They had assured him that they would empty what amounted to an apartment complex to give the women plenty of space and privacy while they settled in and recovered from their ordeal unmolested. From there they would be free to interact with males who were interested in mating with them. She stared out at the crowd. And boy-howdy are they interested, she giggled to herself.
Slowly the women filed out, squinting at the bright twin suns around which the planet revolved. Nikki winced slightly. There was no getting around the fact that the women were in bad shape. Many were emaciated from near starvation conditions, and all of them needed desperately to bathe, many of them fidgeted, well aware of their own condition, yet the males all drew in a breath of fascination. Instantly the Council came over with males bringing forth warm blankets and bowls of food. More and more men come forward, giving comfort to the hundreds of refugee females. Many females were embraced in comforting arms of elders who saw the future of their children in them. Younger males offered small touches of comfort, smiles and kind words to draw out even the most reticent of the women.
Gradually the women were led away to their privacy of their new homes by members of the Council and their eager escorts. It gave Nikki a warm fuzzy feeling to see all that compassion and hope manifesting. She leaned up again Nazzek as he came up behind her and looped his arms loosely around her hips. “I guess what the singer John Lennon once said was true…’All you Need is Love.’”
“Yes my heart,” he murmured into her hair. “Love is very much what my people need. Love always brings her sister Hope with her.”
An elderly male in wine-dark robes approached and bowed to them. “I am Elder Fortus. I sit at the head of the High Council. I wanted to thank you for all that you have done for us…and for them. This is the beginning of a great future for all of us. What do you desire for repayment for this great service?”
Nikki raised her eyebrow at her mate, “Are you really going to ask for some symbol of your glory?”
He laughed down at her, before smiling kindly at the elder. “Actually nothing for myself. I found my great love on this journey, and that love paved the way for all of this to happen. If we could, let us set aside today as a memorial for hope and love, and that we honor it in each other every year, for always.”
Elder Fortus looked thoughtfully at him, a small smile slowly curving his lips. Finally he nodded. “Yes I think that is an excellent plan.” He continued to nod his head thoughtfully as he turned to depart and rejoin the rest of the Council.
Nikki turned and wrapped her arms around her mate. “That was a very good thing you did my love.”
“Certainly,” he grinned. “Besides I know that the true glory and reward is best given by mate. Over and over and over--”
Nikki giggled as he swept her up into his arms, his lips capturing hers in a deep kiss as his tentacle wound a
round her, and slipped up inside her skirt.
“So tell me, my heart,” he whispered,” now that we have come to the end of our little adventure, was our tale a romantic one?”
“We have the rest of our lives to write the story of our romance,” she murmured against the soft pale scales of his lips, “but so far I would have to say that ours is the beginning of a great romance.”
He pulled back and smiled down at her, love shining in his eyes. “And to think, every year on this day our love will always be in some form remembered.”
“I like that.” She smiled up at her mate before a puzzled frown wrinkled her brow. “What exactly is the date today?”
“Today is the fourteenth day of Ividor, I believe in your calendar that would be February.”
Nikki stared at him unblinking before dissolving into helpless laughter. At his confused look she pressed a sweet kiss to his lips.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”
Brief from the Mate Index
The The Mate Index Distribution Program is pleased to introduce the species a woman in our program may be paired with. We at the MIDP wish you a most happy future with which ever mate you are paired with.
Calysii- a species native of Caysta, they are a slender pearl-gray species who possess tiny fish-like scales that shimmer under certain lighting. Pretty close to human in stature, they are a bit taller, ranging a little over six feet and are built with a lot of lean muscle like a swimmer. The species tends to golds and bronzes for hair coloring that they tend to wear swept up in a series of ornate braids. The species has glowing purple eyes.They are overall consider a very physically appealing race to most humanoid species, and are also one who keep a very strict form of hierarchy among themselves and in their relationship with their sister planet Lorgor..
Hearts of Indesh Page 6